How does the Heisman Trophy chase stack up entering Week 10? Here are the six leading candidates and where they stand heading down the stretch.
The Heisman Trophy was there for Saquon Barkley and the way the game began for Penn State against Ohio State, it looked like he’d run away with it. Barkley returned the opening kickoff and had a nice touchdown run in the second quarter as the Nittany Lions built an early 21-3 lead. It looked like the Heisman Trophy race was already over.
But then J.T. Barrett woke up and the Ohio State defense put the clamps on Barkley and the Buckeyes pulled out a 39-38 win as Barrett stole the spotlight from Barkley and now we have a very exciting Heisman race to watch as we head into the stretch run.
Entering Week 10, here is where the top six candidates line up and who is rising and who is falling with only a few more games left to make an impression.
Lamar Jackson, QB, Louisville – Stock Falling
Lamar Jackson isn’t going to win repeat as the Heisman winner because Louisville is 5-4 but you can’t ignore the video game numbers he puts up every week. Jackson threw for 330 yards and a touchdown and added 161 yards and three more scores on the ground, albeit in a loss against Wake Forest. He gets the nod over Baker Mayfield’s whose passing numbers are comparable, but Jackson also has the rushing numbers of the backs on this list.
Josh Adams – Notre Dame, RB – Stock Rising
Josh Adams ran for 202 yards and had a 77-yard touchdown in Notre Dame’s 35-14 win over NC State. The numbers are impressive but they’ve even more impressive against the Wolfpack that had the No. 6 rush defense and a line loaded with NFL prospects. Adams gets the No. 5 spot ahead of Jonathan Taylor who left Wisconsin’s win over Illinois with an ankle injury after 73 yards.
Bryce Love – Stanford, RB – Stock Steady
Bryce Love missed Stanford’s last week’s game against Oregon State with an ankle injury. Oddly enough, not playing may have helped his case based on how bad the Cardinal looked in the one-point win. The nation’s leading rusher is already fighting an uphill battle because of his team’s two losses so he’ll have to return from his injury to stay in the conversation. He may be the winner of the most valuable player but his chances of moving past the candidates ahead of him is going to be tough if he’s forced to miss more time due to the injury.
Baker Mayfield – Oklahoma, QB – Stock Steady
Baker Mayfield feels like the forgotten man in the Heisman chase. Many wrote him off after the Sooners were upset at home by Iowa State, but a few weeks later, and that loss doesn’t look as bad as it did then. Mayfield is coming off a win against Texas Tech that saw him complete 22-of-34 passes for 281 yards and four touchdowns. He also added a score on the ground. Mayfield has a chance to get some momentum heading down the stretch with the Bedlam Series game on Saturday at Oklahoma State on Saturday. Look for Mayfield to have another four-five touchdown game with more than 300 yards passing. If he does that in a win, Mayfield will be hot down the stretch.
Next: College football power rankings by conference: Big Ten or the SEC?
Saquon Barkley, Penn State, RB – Stock Falling
It all started out so well for Saquon Barkley against Ohio State. The prohibitive favorite for the Heisman looked the part returning the opening kickoff 97 yards and later on a 36-yard touchdown run in the second quarter. But things went south for Barkley after that score. Penn State blew a pair of 18-point leads and Barkley was shut down by the Ohio State defense. Outside of Barkley’s 36-yard touchdown run, he had 20 carries for eight yards. Barkley is down but he’s not out and he’ll look to get back that momentum with Penn State playing at Michigan State on Saturday.
J.T. Barrett, Ohio State, QB – Stock Rising
J.T. Barrett was once down but now he’s the player to beat for the Heisman Trophy after orchestrating the 18-point comeback win for Ohio State against Penn State. Barrett threw four touchdowns, including three in the decisive fourth quarter. The game-winner with 1:48 left in the game gave Ohio State their first lead of the game. If that wasn’t enough, Barrett also ran for a game-high 92 yards, more than double Barkley’s total. Barrett still has work to do to join the list of Buckeye Heisman winners, but momentum is on his side and it’s his Trophy to lose now.